ARLINGTON – The City Council awarded a $460,846 contract to low bidder Lakeside Industries for the 67th Avenue overlay project April 17.
The pavement preservation project includes an asphalt overlay from 168th Street NE crossing the 67th and 172nd intersection, and extending north to 180th.
Contractors also will replace Americans With Disabilities Act curb ramps at Highland View Drive, Upland Drive and Bovee Lane, Public Works Director Jim Kelly said. The project is funded through a combination of Transportation Benefit District dollars and a $184,838 grant awarded to the city from the Puget Sound Regional Council.
Council questioned the high bids from three contractors, which ranged from $460,846 to $568,178, despite an engineer’s estimate of $380,000.Kelly explained that massive public road projects throughout Puget Sound have generated an overabundance of construction work. That has pushed prices up to the point where contractors can be more selective about the projects they take on and charge accordingly.
“There is a ton of work out there,” Kelly said.
He said that while the engineer’s estimate is low, the city budgeted for a contingency n case bids came in higher.
Kelly said the project would likely get under way at the end of June.“We’ve talked to Lakeside, and they seem to be eager to go,” he said.
In other council business:
* It OK’d a proposed fee resolution enabling the Arlington Cemetery to reduce the percentage transferred to the Endowment Fund for the sale of each lot or niche, pending final review by the city attorney. To help increase cemetery revenue, its board is recommending that the Endowment Fund diversion be reduced from 20 percent of sale price of 10 percent.
* Authorized the purchase of a John Deere utility tractor not to exceed $70,559. The tractor uses a 22-foot tow behind a flex-wing mower at the airport. In the past, staff has not mowed certain areas of the field.
* Appointed Jessica Ronhaar to the seven-member Parks, Arts and Recreation Commission. Ronhaar is the director of Arlington Youth Dynamics, vice president of the Arlington-Smokey Point Chamber of Commerce, and involved in a variety of community events and causes.
* Appointed Erik Granroth and Jennifer Holocker to fill vacancies on the five-member Lodging Tax Advisory Committee. The committee requires that two members hail from businesses that are required to collect the tax (such as hotels), two from organizations that are eligible to receive grant funding for tourism-related projects, and a council member. Granroth is president of the Arlington Rotary Club; Holocker is executive director of the Arlington-Smokey Point Chamber of Commerce.
